Movable bearing supports for printing rolls



June 8, 1943. s B, STAFFORD EAL 2,321,329

MOVABLE BEARING SUPPORTS FOR PRINTING ROLLS Filed Oct. l1, 1940,

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nu Herman Smith 'l-. M2, fullness attorney Herbert Covey Patented June 8, 1943 MOVABLE BEARING SUPPORTS FOR PRINT- ING ROLLS Stephen B. Stafford, Oxford, and Herman AA. Smith, Holden, Mass., assignors to Rice'arton Corporation, a corporation of Massachusetts Application October 11, 1940, Serial No. 360,786

1 Claim.

This invention relates to printing machinery -and more particularly to the printing roll and its adjustable supports.

A textile printing machine used for printing `one or more colors on a fabric usually comprises va printing roll and preferably a series of them so arranged relative to one or more backing cylvinders that the fabric may be printed as it passes therebetween.

The printing roll comprises a mandrel having removably mounted thereon a hollow copper intaglio roll carrying the impression to be printed on the cloth. The mandrel is usually slightly tapered and the copper roll'correspondingly shaped, and the two are assembled with a driving nt. When a given printing run has been completed, the printing roll is removed from the mandrel and the surface thereof is ground down and a new engraving formed thereon. When the roll is again mounted on the mandrel,

it may not be located in exactly the same place as it was formerly; hence registration with the fabric to be printed is thus rendered di'icult. Moreover, it is necessary that the printing roll be held against the backing cylinder under a high pressure applied at its two ends. This is usually vaccomplished by means of an adjusting screw.

The bearings for the mandrel are customarily made .'as half bearing blocks to permit ready removability of the roll. If the machine attendant should adjust one end of the mandrel to a position closer to the printing cylinderthan is the other end, then this imposes a strain on the bear- V ing and tends to cause trouble. Also, any attempt at adjusting the mandrel lengthwise will lead to difficulty if the bearings are not both adjusted along with the mandrel.

It is the primary object of this invention to Yovercome these various problems and to provide a printing roll mount so constructed and arranged that the printing roll may be properly adjusted relative to the backing cylinder and moved axially or laterally and wherein the bearings are self- Valigning and adjustment of the parts is rendered simple and easily accomplished. FurtherV objects will be apparent in the following disclosure.

(Cl. lOl- 248) away and in section, taken on the line of 2-2 of Fig. 1.

A textile printing machine, wh1ch may be the I type of the standard Rice-Bartonconstruction,

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this View being taken substantially on the line A I-I of Fig. 2; and

v Fig. 2 is a fragmentary view, partly broken comprises a backing cylinder I and a printing roll I2 which are suitably mounted and arranged for printing a cloth or other desired material. The printing roll I2 is preferably provided with a slightly tapering internal cylindrical surface which makes a sliding fit with a steel mandrel I4. This mandrel, on which the printing roll is keyed, is mounted at its two ends in roller bearings. vThe housings I5 and II carrying these roller bearings are in turn mounted on slides to permit proper adjustment of the two ends of the printing roll.

The entire assembly is carried on parallel arms I8 projecting laterally from the frame of the machine. These arms have slideways I9 formed thereon which carry slide blocks and 2l. These blocks may be adjusted toward and from the backing cylinder I0 by means of the screws 22 suitably mounted in threaded bushings 23 carried in the arms I8. A pair of rubber buffers 24 are mounted in a recess 25 formed in one end of the bearing blocks 2U and 2I, and steelplates 26v serve to transmit the thrust from the screw 2l through these rubber disks to the bearing blocks for forcing the printing roller into engagement with the backing cylinder I0. A collar 2] pinned to the screw 2| serves for withdrawing the block rearwardly, this collar engaging a plate 28 suitably secured by cap screws on the end of the bearing blocks and which is adapted to substantially close the opening carrying the rubber pressure disks. Any suitable construction may however be employed for the purpose of transmitting the pressure to the printing roll. In order to provide for a lateral adjustment of the slide blocks, a slide 30 is mounted on a block 20 and another slide 3I is mounted onV the block 2l. Each of the slides is adjusted by means of a construction which comprises a screw 32 or 33 threaded into one of the slides 30 or 3 I. As shown in Fig. 2, the screw 32 is threaded into the slide 30 and it passes through a projecting flange 34 on the block 2U and carries a collar 35, beneath that flange, the parts being so arranged that rotation of the screw 34 tends tolift the slide 30.

The housings I5 and I6 which carry'the roller bearings are provided with partial spherical surfaces and 4I, and these surfaces are mounted in similarly shaped recesses 42 and .43 in arcuate shaped bearinglblocks. These bearing surfaces 40 and 4I provide rocking supportsforthe two ends of the mandrel so that the alignment of the radial bearings and the mandrel is not disturbed if one slide block is moved forward more than is the other. One bearing block is the slide member 3| shown at the left hand side of Fig. 1, while the other arcuate block is a supplemental slide 44. 'Ihis supplemental slide 44 is adapted to be moved at right angles to the direction of travel of the other slide 36 by means of a screw 46 having a threaded portion passing into the block 44 and having a cylindrical portion passing through a lug 41 on the block 30. Two collars 48 on the screw will serve to locate the screw so that turning movement thereof will move the slide back and forth as required. Each of the slides 30, 3| and 44 is provided with a dovetailed portion intertting with a similarly shaped dovetailed recess in the supporting member as will be understood.

The inner raceway sleeves '58 and 6| are each held in position against an inner shoulder 12 on the mandrel by means of clamping devices comprising two semi-cylindrical members 14 hinged to similarly shaped parts 15 and arranged to be held in position -by means of clamping Ibolts 16 pas-sing through lugs projecting laterally therefrom, as will be readily understood. Each of these clamping rings ts tightly against the outer ends of the inner raceways 5B or 6| and against a beveled shoulder 18 formed on the mandrel. Hence, by drawing the two clamping rings tightly together by means of the screw threaded bolt 16, the parts are forced into a tight assembly on the mandrel.

The operation of these various parts will be readily understood in view of the above descrip- The arcuate supporting member 44 is shaped as illustrated in Fig. 2 to provide a half bearing support for the roller bearing housings I6. The other member 3| is similarly shaped to provide a half bearing support for the other housing l5. Thesermembers 3| and 44 extendin an arc less than 180, so that the roller bearing housings may be removably placed in position, and .ea-ch half bearing support projects imder the bottom of the housing in the manner shown in Fig. 2, so that the housing will be properly supported when the printing roll is not bearing against the backing cylinder l). The construction is such that if the operator yadjusts one of the pressure screws 22 more tightly than the other, the bearing housings |5 and I6 will merely roclr` in their spherical bearing supports and thus the lbearing housings will properly align with the associated .parts without imposing any strain on the mandrel or the bearing block.

An `rimportant feature of this invention resides in having one of thebearing housings so constructed as to provide only a radial support for the mandrel, while the other pro-vides both a radial support and a thrust bearing, so that the printing roll may be moved endwise si-mply by movement of this Iparticular, bearing. To that end the left hand bearing, which is only a radial bearing, comprises the housing I5 shaped to carry two roller :bearing rings 50 therein. Each has an inwardly .turned flange 52 which serves to hold the rollers 53 and their associated rings 54 and 55 in position. A spacing ring 56 is located between the supporting rings 5D and thus holds them properly located between the iiange 51 onY the housing and an adjusting plate 59 which is threaded into the housing l5. The sleeve 58 which forms the inner ring for each of the sets of roller bearing-s is iitted on the end of the mandrel and slides through the lbearing housing when the mandrel moves endwise. It will thus .'be seen that the left hand bearing provides only for a radial support for the mandrel.

The right hand bearing is similarly constructed except that it comprises a radial rib 60 :formed on the inner raceway member 6| which is fitted on the mandrel. A pair of rollers 62 carried in suitable supporting rings 63 are mounted to contact with the sides of this radial rib 6D. They also bear against the inwardly turned flanges 66 of the radial thrust raceways 61. The radial rollers 6B are mounted lthe same as are the rollers 53 above described, and the parts are held in position by the ring 1li threaded into the housing I6. The spacing ring 1| llocates the bearing raceways 61 and provides for a proper fit ofthe parts Within the housing.

tion. The printing roll I2 is removably tted onto the central portion of the mandrel. The bearing housings I5 and I6 with their inner bearing raceways 5.8and 6| are slidably mountedvon the ends of the mandrel and the locating rings formed of parts 14 and 15 are put into place to hold the Ibearings firmly in position. The assembled parts are then ready to be dropped into position in the half bearing blocks formed by the parts 3| and 44 which have the partial spherical surfaces 4| and 46 arranged to provide rocking supports for the bearing housings. Then the various slides are adjusted to move the printing roll into suitable contact with the backing cylinder by adjustment of the pressure screws 22. If the operator should adjust one pressure screw a little more tightly than the other, this will not disturb the alignment of the radial bearings with the mandrel, since the bearing housings may rock freely`on the partial spherical rocking bearing surfaces 42 and 43. I'f the printing roll l2 has been vput on the mandrel in a slightly different position from that which it formerly occupied, then the machine operator may vmove the printing roll lengthwise or axially together with its mandrel by Vturning the screw 46 and moving the slide 44. This movement is transmitted through the thrust-l -bearings and the radial ange 66 of the right hand bearing housing Vassembly and thereby serves to move the printing roll and cause the inner raceway ring 58 to slide lengthwise through the left hand bearing housing l5 without disturbing either of the bearing assemblies. Also, any suitable adjustment of the screws 32 maybe employed to raise or lower the printing roll relative to the backing cylinder as may be required. It will, therefore, be seen that we have provided a self-aligning bearing assembly for supporting the printing roll which permits adjustments axially and radially of the printing roll without disturbing the alignment of the bearings. It will now be appreciated that various arrangements may be made in the Vrelative positions of the slides and the associated bearing supporting parts and that numerous modications may be made of this construction 'within the Scope of this invention. Hence, 'the above'description isto be interpreted as illustrative ofthe Vgeneral lprinciples .of the invention and notas limitations on the claim appended hereto. l

I claim:

A textile printing machine comprising a frame, a rotatable backing cylinder and a printing roll associated for a printing operation, a rotatable blocks for moving said second housing and its bearings axially and adjusting the mandrel endwise through the bearings of the rst housing, said universal bearings serving to align the hous- 5 ings and their bearings with the mandrel for all normal adjustments of said devices.

STEPHEN B. STAFFORD. HERMAN A. SMITH. 

